𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 ― r. bowen ² ✓

007

She looked down. "Oh. That." Athena laughed a little in attempt to bring herself back to reality. "Oops. But, um, in my defense, it does get really cold here, and you technically left it at my house."

Ricky approached Athena with the intent of kissing her. Athena immediately got his message. Once he got close enough, Athena placed her hands on his bare chest and rose up onto her toes, kissing him softly. She pulled away after a moment, but apparently that wasn't enough for Ricky, because he leaned down and pressed a much deeper kiss onto her lips. Athena smiled into it before pulling away officially. Ricky then took her hands off of his chest, holding them in his warm ones.

"God, your hands are freezing," Ricky commented. "Give me a second and we'll get you under a blanket."

He let go of her and walked back over to the box he was rummaging in earlier. Ricky pulled out a random shirt and pulled it over his head (much to Athena's dismay, but she would never admit that out loud.) He joined her side once again so they could leave.

"My turn to pick?" Athena questioned as they exited his room.

Ricky nodded. "Whatever you want. Oh, by the way, keep the hoodie." He veered off towards the kitchen while Athena went into the living room. "You look cute in it."

Athena couldn't help the way a smile spread across her lips. While Athena turned on the TV, Ricky brought over the bag of snacks for them to share. He sat next to her on the couch as Athena pressed on Legally Blonde to watch on Netflix. Ricky wrapped his arm around Athena's waist and she cuddled up into his side, sighing in content.

"So . . . you think I'm attractive?" Ricky inquired as the movie started.

Athena squeezed her eyes shut and felt his chest rumble from laughter. "Shut up."

And with her face burning red yet again, Athena hid closer into Ricky's side to hide her embarrassment. God, she really was such a sucker for him.

--- ☆ • ♫ • ♪ • ♫ • ☆ ---

IT WAS SNOWING pretty hard outside the next day. There was a huge storm predicted for later that day after school, but nevertheless, the cast for the musical still met in the bomb shelter so they could work on a lot of things. Athena, tucked under Ricky's fuzzy jean jacket that she had worn to school that day, sat on the risers in between Ricky and Ashlyn with her hand interlocked with Ricky's. However, she kept sending worried glances to Violetta, who was sitting on the row in front of her.

Violetta had one of her knees tucked into her chest with her chin was resting on top of it. She kept staring at the floor and only answered with one-worded responses if she was talked to. It had been like that at all day, and Athena had barley seen her. That wasn't like Violetta at all. Usually, she would be laughing with everyone and making fun of EJ. But now that Athena thought about it, she hadn't seen EJ at all either that day in school.

Miss Jenn then entered the room. "Okay, everyone, gather around. We have got a two hour window before the storm is expected to hit, and I intend to use every minute of it. Big, splashy group numbers always succeed at the Menkie Awards. So we need to workshop a punchy, breathtaking number that will put us in the number one spot."

Carlos stepped forwards. "As our head choreographer, I am so happy to announce that today we will, at last, begin rehearsing one of the most show-stopping, iconic, and bar-raising numbers of the entire show."